|
Seafood processing plants required
authorization to remove millions of pounds of rotting shrimp
BY ANITA LEE
Sun Herald
BILOXI - (KRT) - Seafood processors were
removing putrid shrimp from Back Bay plants
Saturday, while Harrison County Supervisor
Bobby Eleuteruis unraveled red tape so insurance
companies would reimburse the financial losses.
Eleuterius said 1.5 to 2 million pounds
of shrimp were stored at two Biloxi plants
and 1 in D'Iberville.
"These guys have millions of dollars
tied up in this," Eleuterius said, "so
I can understand, but I'm worried about the
people, too."
He
said residents had donned masks Friday
so they could bear the smell while they
cleaned
East Biloxi homes ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. "It
would take your breath away," he said.
Why the shrimp sat at two Biloxi plants
12 days after the storm hit remains a mystery.
Clay Guitterrez, owner of one plant, reported
the problem Sept. 1 to Mayor A.J. Holloway,
who advised his administrative chief to alert
the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.
What happened from there remains unclear.
Eleuterius found out about the shrimp in
a roundabout way. The president of the county
Board of Supervisors, Eleuterius and his
family lost most of their possessions in
the storm.
He was raised around the seafood industry
and is close to the Gutierrez family. They
called Saturday morning with good news. They
had one of the model shrimp boats Eleuterius
collected. He thought they were all lost
in the storm, but the Gutierrezes had located
a 5-foot model sent 15 years ago to a shrimp
convention in South Carolina.
They mentioned the rotting shrimp at their
plant, Custom Pack Inc., and at R.A. Lesso
Seafood Inc. To comply with insurance rules,
they needed official letters condemning the
property before the shrimp could be removed,
Eleuterius said.
He secured the letters shortly after noon
from the state Department of Environmental
Quality, then Robert Travnicek, district
director for the state Health Department,
condemned the plants, clearing the way for
the shrimp removal.
Eleuterius
said about 100,000 pounds of shrimp at
a third plant in D'Iberville, Seymour & Sons,
has been hauled off. The two Biloxi plants
have hired contractors to remove their shrimp.
"They were hauling," Eleuterius
said, "but there's still a lot to do."
Source:
© 2005,
The Sun Herald (Biloxi, Miss.).
Visit The Sun Herald Online at http://www.sunherald.co
Knight
Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
|
